Monthly Archives: January 2026

January 8, 2026 · 5:30 AM

Guarding The Seed

One of the most exciting things in life is when God puts a vision in your heart of where He wants to lead you and how He wants to use you. For most of us, we’re so excited that we want to share that with someone. What often happens is that the people whom you think would encourage you and be excited with you about it are often the ones who will discourage you from doing it. They’ll either blow it off, tell you why it can’t happen or outright oppose it. The enemy kills more seeds this way than in any other. Your disappointment turns into lack of moving forward and the vision goes dormant. Remember the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy that which God plants in you. Protect it until it has taken root.

In Genesis 37 we read the story of Joseph. One night God gave him a dream where he and his brothers were tying up grain when his stood up and their bowed to his. The next day he was so excited about this vision he told his brothers. They mocked him for the dream. When he dreamed that the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed to him, he told them again. This time his father scolded him for the dream God gave him. His brothers grew jealous of the dream God had given him, began to hate him and started planning to kill him over it. Even thought they sold him into slavery and he went to prison for years, God accomplished the dream He gave him. When things were darkest in his life, God was still growing the seed the enemy tried to steal and was positioning Joseph for it to come to pass.

In 1 Timothy 6:20 Paul warned Timothy of this very thing. He wrote, “Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge” (NLT). To guard it well you will first need to purpose in your heart to follow God’s vision and plan before you tell others what God has planted. You need to begin moving in the direction of the vision and acting on it. When the people you respect and love say opposing words, guard the seed and remember your promise to God to fulfill it. The larger the dream, the greater the opposition. Even if you feel like the seed has been stolen in this way, trust God’s plan like Joseph. It may be dark now, but that’s the condition a seed needs in order to grow. God does not take back His gifts nor His callings (Romans 11:29). Begin watering that seed and guard it well. God is still working.

Photo by Jennifer Delmarre on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

Planting Your Roots

In the early 2000’s I was working on a construction project with a group of teens living in a drug rehab program. I got to know one of the boys who was working with me. He seemed like a normal teen, but this was his fifth rehab program. As we talked, he told me how this program was different from the others. Every other program he had been in relied on avoidance of drugs. Once he was clean and finished with the program, he’d step back into his old life with his old friends and get hooked again. Then he said, but this program has been different. It’s not about avoidance. It’s about heart and mind change. It’s about changing who I’m around and planting myself in positive places. I don’t know what happened to him, but I’ve never forgotten our conversation.

Psalm 1 has always been my favorite Psalm and one I’ve tried to build my life on since I was a teen. It starts out, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (ESV). Like that teen learned, who we are around matters. However, there’s more to living blessed than mere avoidance of the wrong crowd. We must also take delight in God’s Word and meditate on it. We have to chew on it, think about it and apply it to our life as we hide it in our heart. That creates a heart and mind change.

The next verse tells us the results of a person who does these things. It says, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” This doesn’t describe a wild tree randomly growing somewhere. This is one that is planted where it can get constant nourishment from God’s Word and the people of God. When you are rooted in these things, fruitfulness and success in every season is the natural outcomes. Have you simply been trying to avoid sin or hare you undergoing a heart and mind transformation through taking delight in God’s Word and His people? Where you plant your roots affects your whole life and determines your fruitfulness.

Photo by Rizwan Sohail on Unsplash

Grow And Guard

Not long after God created everything, He planted the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:15 says, “Then the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it” (GNT). Think about that for a second. God created this perfect world and garden, then asked man to cultivate it and guard it. To cultivate it is to take what it was in its raw form and to help it become more. God was asking Adam to grow it to more than what it was. When God asked him to guard it, He was asking Adam to take responsibility for what had been given to him as well. In this moment, God created a partnership with man to work together with purpose.

One of my favorite parables comes from Matthew 25. A man was going on a trip and he entrusted his property to three servants. Verse 15 says, “He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand. Then he left on his trip.” Did you catch that? He entrusted something to each one according to his abilities. He wanted them to cultivate, grow and guard what was placed in their hand. The first two doubled the coins while the other hid his. The first two who grew and guarded their gift were told, “Well done, you good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!” The owner shared the growth with them in the partnership.

In 2 Timothy 1:6 Paul reminds Timothy, “This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you” (NLT). What is Paul asking Timothy to do? He wants him to cultivate the gift, to grow it and to not let it die. He wants him to guard it and steward it well. The same challenge is given to us as was given to Adam, the servants and Timothy. Why has God given you that He’s asking you to cultivate and to guard? Where do you need to partner with God to see growth? The talents that God gives you are His gift to you. How you grow and guard them are your gift to Him. The more we increase them and care for them, the more He will share with you in this partnership.

Photo by Jed Owen on Unsplash

Consecrate Yourselves

In Joshua 3, the people of Israel stood at the Jordan river looking at the Promised Land that God had promised for generations. They had not yet marched around Jericho. They hadn’t faced any giants in the new land. They were simply standing there between what has been and what will be. It’s a moment we’ve all stood in. It’s the start of something new and different. In that moment of anticipation, Joshua said, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you” (ESV). He didn’t tell them to strategize. He didn’t tell them to sharpen their weapons either. He simply said to consecrate yourselves.

I love this moment and what God was asking them to do. Before there would be any victories or amazing things done by God, the people would have to consecrate themselves. That means that they would dedicate their whole selves to God, set themselves apart from the way others lived and to present themselves to God as a living sacrifice. To consecrate yourself is to clear away things from your life and to make room for God so He can fill it. It’s a spiritual posture that says, “I put aside my plans for what’s ahead and make myself available for what you want to do next.” It takes a moment of uncertainty and gives God permission to direct us where He wants to lead us. It puts both what’s ahead and what is being left behind in His hands.

I believe we are standing in a threshold moment of what has been and what will be. God says in Isaiah 43:18-19, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Today is a day of consecration where we let go of the former things and embrace the new things God wants to do. Consecration starts with surrender. What do you need to lay down before you step into the Jordan? Seek God today on what that is and then let it go. When we trust Him with all of our heart, He will direct our paths. God will always bring clarity where we bring surrender and consecration.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

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January 2, 2026 · 5:49 AM

Becoming New

With a new year come new resolutions, new commitments and new changes. People like to ask what your New Year’s resolution is. Almost everyone makes one, but few ever keep the new changes in their life. However, when you become a Christian, the old passes away and you become a new creation. With this newness of life comes a lot of new things including a new way of living. You become a new person from the inside out. This new year, I want to encourage you to return to that first love you had when all things became new. Find new ways to serve, new ways to worship and new ways to grow in Christ.

Here are some Bible verses on becoming a new person:

1. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 NLT

2. Night’s darkness is dissolving away as a new day of destiny dawns. So we must once and for all strip away what is done in the shadows of darkness, removing it like filthy clothes. And once and for all we clothe ourselves with the radiance of light as our weapon.

Romans 13:12 TPT

3. Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, And praise Him in the congregation of His godly ones (believers).

Psalms 149:1 AMP

4. So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to—the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.

Ephesians 4:22-24 GNT

5. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.

Mark 2:22 NLT

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January 1, 2026 · 5:32 AM

New Year’s Prayer 2026

My custom for 13 years on this site is to start the year off with a prayer that you can pray over your life too.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for another day and another year. Your mercy and faithfulness are as sure as each sunrise. I pause today to count the many blessings you’ve given to me. You have been good to me beyond anything I deserve. Thank you for the many ways you have provided for me even when I couldn’t see it was you. I ask that your hand of favor would be on me in the coming year. I will bless others as you bless me. I want to be a person who gives more, loves greater and serves beyond anything I’ve ever done so that your name would be glorified. Help me to reflect you in all I do.

I pray that in the coming year, you would help me to possess the land that you have laid out before me. Help me to tear down walls and strongholds through your name. Help me to evict habits that have been holding me back. I put on all the armor that you provide so that I’m protected from the attacks of the enemy as I take new ground for your Kingdom. Bring people along side of me who will strengthen me, fight for me and bring growth in my life. Give me wisdom in the choices that I will face. Also give me courage to make hard decisions and follow through with them so I can be all you’ve created me to be. Awaken the warrior inside of me that has been sleeping and equip me for the battles I will face.

I ask you to give me boldness to share my faith. I pray that loved ones, family and friends who don’t know you would give their lives to you. Create in them a soft heart towards you so that the seeds that have been planted through the years would take root and bring a harvest. Let me see your promise fulfilled in their lives sooner rather than later. Open my eyes to see the paths you have for me. Let your goodness and mercy follow me each and every day. I place 2026 in your hands. I give it and everything else that I’ve tried to control to you. I can only,y do so much, but you can do greater things so I hand them over to you. Lead me in your ways, guide me in your truth and establish your Word in my heart. Let this year be a year of abundance for me. Open the windows of Heaven and pour out more than I contain so that my cup runs over.

I ask all this in Jesus name.

Amen.

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